Who cares about basketball?

I spent this weekend, actually Thursday thru Sunday, at the Big Ten Basketball Tournament. For an Ohio State fan - even one who could not care less about basketball - it was fantastic! OSU won the tournament after a first round 2.2 second come from behind, heart stopping 37 foot prayer that ripped the bottom of the net, then a double over time victory in the second round and a back and forth basketball game - until the last 10 minutes when OSU finally broke away - to win the tournament in the third round.

In round one the Buckeyes faced arch rival Michigan. Back and forth. No team manged to break away by more than a couple of baskets. Then Michigan went up one with a scant 2.2 seconds remaining. Looking doomed, OSU took a time out.

I looked around the arena. OSU fans were standing mouths agape. UofM fans were high fiving laughing and shouting. One group in the upper deck clad in yellow t-shirts at the far end of the arena were jumping up and down and clearly elated. I wondered if those were the same students in yellow t-shirts who, after seeing my red cap and OSU fleece, taunted me and my friends in the parking lot with shouts of "Ohio State sucks."

I thought about returning the taunt with a, "Yeah we suck, but at least we didn't allow a division 1 triple z team to come into the Shoe, run around for 600 yards, and hang half a hundred on us in our house." That's a reference to Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez's debut loss against Appalachian State. I didn't say anything because there were about 10 kids and they probably had an early start at the bar. Besides my friends were Purdue and IU fans and probably wouldn't have had their hearts in an OSU UofM altercation.

But there they were, jumping up and down excited with anticipation of a UofM victory.

I learned then that a basketball court is 90 feet long. So after in bounding the ball, the Bucks would have to dribble or pass the ball to within 20-25 feet for a good shot - or so I thought. The ball was inbound to #21 Evan Turner, who then turned and dribble the ball up court, two strides past half court and let fly the most unlikely of shots that - after what seemed a lifetime - eventually found its mark.

The place went nuts. I looked down at the Michigan pep band. They were in stunned silence. One kid appeared to have been frozen at the exact moment that Turner's shot passed through the rim. Standing motionless, both of his hands were up around his head. His eyes were open wide in that, I just won the lottery look. His jaw was dropped so far and mouth open so wide in stunned disbelief, it would have been an easier shot for Turner to toss the basketball past his pearly whites from 50 feet than the real basket. Then my eyes found the boys in the yellow t-shirts. Some were clearly mad, as they beat their fists against the rail. Others sat with their heads down. Others walked up the stairs toward the exit with heads shaking back and forth.

As one Buckeye fan was heard to say, "they were laughing at us one second $h!tting themselves the next."

It was a great weekend. Except for the Michigan parking lot incident and an obnoxious Purdue fan, everyone was polite and in good spirit. Everyone seemed to wish each other "good luck" except if that team happened to play against their team.

Oh, one other thing the cheer leaders proved to be outstanding athletes themselves. They should get more tv time.

UPDATE: AS noted in the comments, Rich Rod didn't lose to App. St. in his debut. His team lost to Utah.